California Condor release scheduled at Vermilion Cliffs

An immature California condor nestles alongside an adult. They are two of the 85 birds currently living in a population around Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona.(Photo: George Andrejko/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

The California condor had nearly been killed off by the late 20th century, its population dwindling to only 22 known individuals due to lead poisoning, hunting, habitat destruction and other human causes.

Today, the iconic raptor species, with its stark red head and wingspan of nearly 10 feet, numbers close to 500. It’s become a symbol for endangered species preservation in the Southwest, being slowly nursed back to health through a cooperative effort between wildlife biologists and government agencies.

Next month, wildlife officials plan to release a group of young condors into the wild, the latest step in that 23-year effort to bring them back in the cragged desert landscapes north of the Grand Canyon.

The release, slated to take place in an isolated spot within the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument just south of the Utah state line, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Arizona time on Sept. 22 to coincide with National Public Lands Day.

And because it is on public land, the public is invited to watch.

A viewing location complete with on-hand spotting scopes will be set up, and project personnel will be on hand to take questions, said Rachel Carnahan, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management's Arizona Strip District.

There is room for several hundred people to gather at the watch location, about three miles down a dirt road off Highway 89A southeast of Kanab.

Visitors are advised to bring binoculars and their own shade, and to dress for the heat, Carnahan said.

"It's kind of a festival-type atmosphere," she said. "It's really an exciting thing to be a part of."

A decades-long effort

A California condor soars above the Southwestern desert. The endangered birds are the subject of a decades-old reintroduction program that has helped re-establish a population around the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.(Photo: Chris Parish/The Peregrine Fund)

Once a common sight along the Pacific Coast and parts of the Southwest, the condor's rapid demise left it nearly extinct by the early 1980s. In the areas around the Grand Canyon, none had been seen since the 1920s.

Scientists started a captive breeding program in 1982 to save the species from disappearing completely, and a recovery program in Arizona was started in 1996 with the release of six birds.

Since then, captive-bred birds have been released into the wild in small groups, and the Vermillion Cliffs population had grown to 85 birds as of the end of July.

They roam the skies for miles. They are often sighted around Zion National Park, especially on Kolob Mountain, where they feed on the remains of both wild animals and livestock.

"They're just doing what they do," said Chris Parish, conservation manager with Peregrine Fund, a nonprofit organization that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey like the condor.

The released condors are carefully tracked, with capture programs run each year to perform testing and generate data on the health of the population.

Subject to an “experimental” designation through the Endangered Species Act that allows wildlife officials to interfere when the birds come into conflict with human populations, they have been relatively happy and healthy for years now, Parish said.

Obstacles remain

Condors are large birds that can live up to 60 years, and their reproduction cycle is predictably slow.

Mating pairs typically lay one egg at a time, and they breed only once every two years.

In a population as small as the one around Vermilion Cliffs, that makes every death especially significant. Officials say one threat in particular has been especially dangerous — lead poisoning.

Condors are scavengers that survive by eating carrion, using their sharp eyes as they soar above the desert to spot prospective meals.

They often eat dead animals left behind by humans, including livestock and animals shot for sport. When condors eat animals shot with lead bullets, acid in the birds' guts convert the lead fragments into soluble salts which are then absorbed into the blood stream and pumped around into soft tissues, organs, bones and the brain.

At some point the amount of poison makes them sick, and if they are poisoned enough they die.

More than half of all recorded condor deaths in the reintroduction program have been attributed to lead poisoning, according to Peregrine Fund research. In the latest five-year reporting period, there were 58 recorded deaths, with 21 other birds missing and presumed dead. Since the program was started, 55 percent of recorded deaths where a cause was determined were attributed to lead poisoning, with scientists suspecting that secondary effects from poisoning could contribute to other deaths. Symptoms like sluggishness and emaciation make the birds more susceptible to predation and disease.

Of birds tested during the 2015-2016 season, 73 percent showed levels of lead that suggested recent exposure was likely, and 29 percent needed treatment for lead poisoning.

Alternatives to lead

Wildlife biologist Amy List shows some lead bullets like the ones that kill California condors after the bird eats a contaminated carcass in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, California.(Photo: AP PHOTO)

While lead remains a primary worry, the situation does seem to be improving, Parish said.

For years, officials have campaigned to curb the use of lead ammunition, especially among hunters and other shooters that might leave carrion.

Voluntary non-lead ammunition programs are active in Utah and Arizona, supplying hunters with alternatives if they plan to hunt in condor territory, and program organizers have reported some success especially with big-game hunters.

In Utah, the Division of Wildlife Resources started in 2010 offering a $25 rebate toward the purchase of non-lead ammunition, and educational materials were handed out to influential groups to encourage hunters to use bullets with non-lead alternatives such as copper and steel.

Some are calling to ban lead ammunition entirely, and jostling over the rule at the federal level has largely fallen along party lines.

On President Barack Obama’s last day in office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a ban on lead bullets on agency lands, requiring non-toxic ammunition be used instead. The move caught sharp criticism from many firearms advocates, with the National Rifle Association calling it an “assault on gun owners’ and sportsmen’s rights.”

A couple of months later, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lifted the ban on his first day in office after being appointed by President Donald Trump. An avid hunter and angler, Zinke said the move was meant to “expand access” to hunting, fishing and other recreation opportunities.

“It worries me to think about hunting and fishing becoming activities for the land-owning elite,” he said.

Getting there

Driving directions: Take Highway 89A from Kanab or Page to the Vermilion Cliffs (from Flagstaff take Highway 89 to Highway 89A). Turn north onto BLM Road 1065 (a dirt road next to the small house just east of the Kaibab Plateau) and continue almost 3 miles.

What to bring: Spotting scope or binoculars, sunscreen, water, snack, chair and layered clothing. There will be some spotting scopes provided by partners and Swarovski Optik.

What to expect: Informational kiosk, shade structure, and restroom at the site.

California Condor

One of the largest flying birds in the world, the California condor can grow to 25 pounds, with a wingspan of up to 9½ feet.

Once abundant along the Western U.S. coast, the condors were driven to the brink of extinction by losses of habitat, natural predation, hunting and environmental contamination. By 1982, there were only 22 birds living birds left, and scientists started a captive breeding program to save the condor from extinction.

The captive-bred birds were released into a reintroduction program at sites in California, Arizona and Baja California, with the total population reported at more than 430 today.

Since 1997, roughly half of all the free-falling condors have required treatment for lead poisoning, according to a recent study published by toxicologists at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

For more information on the condor and efforts in the Southwest region of the reintroduction program, visit www.condorcliffs.org.